RISE TO CULTIVATE RICE

Dams and lakes are the best sources for irrigating our farm fields. Just we have to open the sluices and shutters and waters reach their destination-surface water irrigation. But in the areas where these facilities are not feasible, people go for sinking deep bore wells  and draw water with the help of  motor pumps. Drawing water through motor pumps empties the ground water and the water table goes deeper. In Namakkal in Tamilnadu a farmer has drilled to a depth of 1,500 feet and found no presence of water. Since a lot of energy is required to operate these motors, coal or nuclear or through sources we search for power. This cycle too becomes a cause for pollution. 

Harvest water:The solution for this problem is going for the creation of lakes,check dams  and percolation ponds in large numbers.  Every drop of water given by nature in the form of rain is to be collected. Whether the water is needed or not, let us go for conserving all water thrown down by the skies. Then more and more water bodies will be there. In the drought prone desert state of Rajasthan, people have understood the value of water and palaces are there midst lakes. It is not the scenic beauty that should attract us, but the beautiful thinking that arose in their minds should. 

Also wherever pump irrigation is in force, farmers should not go for water intensive crops like rice or wheat. Cash crops or crops that require watering once a week or a fortnight should be chosen instead. For instance the delta region of Tamilnadu has got millions of pump sets  dotting the area. All these happened in the last four  decades as the water from the Mettur  reservoir    is not sufficient. Though hundreds of hectares of lands which saw cultivation of rice has been converted to coconuts, still the water demand is too heavy.

The Chengelput district adjacent to the Chennai city , called 'lake district' still boasts of some good lakes though hundreds have been swallowed by the growing city. Our  ancestors worshiped all the natural sources or forces not without any reason.  Water occupies a predominant position in the rituals of Indians. The holy tanks are a must in every place of worship and no old  temple is in India without a temple pond,tree, animal,or a flower. They wanted to live in harmony with nature. The habit of paying respects even to the poisonous snakes too come under this category. All- the man, the animals and the plants and trees, the lakes and oceans and rivers and mountains and the unpolluted sky ... people were  trained to keep them pure. 

But over the years the concern for a harmonious life became respect and later a ritual and today people laugh at such ideas. Today we have sources and ways to save and spread the knowledge. But in those days knowledge passed on to the generations through human sources alone. Naturally additions and deletions as the time passed. Instead of mocking at our ancestors, we can go for more water bodies and conserving everything nature has offered us.  


"RICE CULTIVATION
SOLUTION-1. 
IRRIGATE YOUR FIELD AND DRAIN IT TO THE NEXT FIELD. AGAIN FILL AND DRAIN IT INTO THE ADJACENT. REPEAT THE PROCESS TO ALL AND ALWAYS.
SOLUTION-2
DIRECT SOWING HELPS SAVE WATER BY 30% AS THE NURSERY NEED NOT BE MAINTAINED (1/10 th  OF THE  TOTAL LAND SIZE) . ALSO NO WASTAGE OF WATER IN PREPARING THE FIELD FOR TRANSPLANTATION
SOLUTION-3
NO NEED TO KEEP THE CROPS IN WATER TILL THE GRAINS TURN GOLD. 15- 20 DAYS IN ADVANCE- MERE WETNESS IS SUFFICIENT. THE FIELD SHOULD NOT GO DRY.

SOLUTION-4
GO FOR A VARIETY OF FOOD GRAINS AND DON'T DEPEND ON RICE ALONE.

DON'T MONOPOLIZE CULTIVATION WITH ONLY TWO CROPS AND LET THE PEOPLE EAT THE GRAINS HARVESTED IN THEIR AREA.